Last week Bartoneus asked what classes people are playing in an effort to get a sense of what was the most popular. Surprising (to me anyway) was that the most popular was Fighter garnering 93 votes. The Fighter was followed by Wizard, Rogue, Ranger, and finally Cleric. It seems that the top five cover all of the role types but are also all from the first Player’s Handbook. This may just be a matter of the PHB being out the longest so everyone has gotten to try it out. Above the actual classes looms the DM… the most imbalanced class in the game if you ask my opinion.
This week’s inquisition has more to do with a late article by myself. After snowmageddon and snowpocalypse hit the east coast, I found myself playing a great deal of video games. I had a good bit of down time and so did all my friends. We were all stuck in our respective houses and still wanted to hang out with one another. This isn’t exactly a new thing to me but it did get me a bit nostalgic for the times when my friends and I really could hang out all the time and play games of various types for long stretches of time.
Fortunately (in this case), the internet and increased connectivity has made the world a smaller place. We were able to play games, goof off, and have a good time. My roommates who weren’t accustomed to this sort of thing went a bit stir crazy and couldn’t comprehend why I was fine with being stuck at home for a week. For me it was a great opportunity to catch up with friends and relive some of the old days before we all had jobs and responsibilities. So, after this rather longwinded story, I began to wonder how many people like myself keep a good contingent of friends online.
[poll id=”157″]
One of the great things about the internet is that it has provided me the opportunity to meet and interact with people I never thought I’d be able too. For now, I’m going to bask in my nostalgia and ignore the seedy side of it all…
alright… I don’t really understand the question… “became friends in real life” so you mean people who I met online and then met offline? I have a lot of friends who I didn’t yet met offline because of money issues…
it just sounds like the question implies you can’t be friends with someone unless you touch them…
I think that he means that how many peoples have you meet online that actually became real friend in the sense that you trust each other. As opposed to the facebook friend definition where knowing somebody makes you a friend. 😉
ah… that makes sense… though I find the reverse to be true…
.-= Lunatyk´s last blog ..Settings =-.
I haven’t actually really befriended many people from online, I’m very much a “physical presence” sort of guy. Even if the internet has a lot of potential, I still feel like something’s missing, because that’s just the way I work. Body language and physical presence play a big part in my communication and emotion, along with voice itself. Still, online is nice, especially when it lets someone express tons of stuff all at once, like in a blog.
.-= Andy´s last blog ..An Unexpected Interview =-.
@Andy I know what you mean. To the question I said 1 to 5 but It’s mostly people I’ve meet online first (On a BBS at the time this seams like ages ago). I later meet them in the flesh and became friend afterward. I cannot say I’ve become friend with anyone by an exclusive online communication.
I’m actually very surprised to finally think about my answer to this question, as I’ve met people like Phil and several other RPG Bloggers online and subsequently become very good friends with them not just online but in person (either at GenCon or locally).
Way back in the day Sion and I ran a text-based Final Fantasy RPG and we met several excellent people through that and become very close friends many of them. I say I was surprised because if you asked me this question face-to-face my gut reaction would be a smaller number, but then I think about it and I have met a good number of close friends online.
I too find the definition of online/real friends ‘fuzzy’ but I find the subject fascinating.
If I define ‘friend’ by ‘know and have affinities with” I’d call a number pretty much in the hundreds.
If I defined it as ‘People I’d like to hang with’ I’d say in the mid-2 digits, with the bloggers and dedicated commenters’ I’ve met through blogs (mine and others’).
If I defined it as “People I want to invite in my circle of trust” then yes, so far it’s in the high 1 digits to lower 2 digits but it is growing too.
Good post man.
P.S. Then again, some people whisper behind my back that I’ve built a personality cult. 🙂
Whisper!?!?! Men your hearing is a lot worst then I though… :p
@Yan: I’m sorry, I can’t hear you above the roar of my cheering cult!
XD
.-= ChattyDM´s last blog ..March Fo(u)rth for GM’s Day Sale 2010 =-.